30 ITistory of Gutta-Percha Wultlie.

 

“But who will get up and warm the milk-and-
water for you?” pursued his father.

“ Oh! I can manage that quite well.”

“Couldn't I do that, mamma?” said Willie, very
humbly, for he thought of what his mother had said
about his sleeping powers.

“No, my pet,” she answered; and he said no
more.

“Tt seems to me,” said his father, ‘a very clumsy
necessity. I have been thinking over it. To keep
a fire in all night only to warm such a tiny drop of
water as she wants, I must say, seems like using a
steam-engine to sweep up the crumbs. If you
would just get a stone bottle, fill it with boiling
water, wrap a piece of flannel about it, and lay it
anywhere in the bed, it would be quite hot enough
even in the morning to make the milk as warm as.
she ought to have it.”

“Tf you will go to Willie’s room, and let Willie
come and sleep with me, I will try it,” she said.

Mr Macmichael concedtad ; and straightway
Willie was filled with silent delight at the thought
of sleeping with his mother andthe baby. Nor be-
cause of that only; for he resolved within himself
that he would try to get a share in the business of
the night: why should his mother have too little
sleep rather than himself? They might at least
divide the too little between them! So he went to
bed early, full of the thought of waking up as soon